Hobzy: Hobby Based Social Network (if you need another one of those!)

Hobzy is a new social network for people who are interested in connecting over shared hobbies. I would have guessed that people aren’t really looking for yet another social network to join. I know I’m not. But apparently that’s not true for everyone because news reports indicate that the site got 3000 people registering in the first five days of being online, many of whom are there to share knitting and crochet stuff.

What’s your Favorite Social Network?

Most crocheters I’ve asked this question say Ravelry. I’m on Ravelry and there are definitely things I check there regularly but the site overwhelms me a bit. I’m not a fan of forums so it’s not my favorite site although I definitely think it has a lot to offer. Personally, I like Google Plus. The only problem with it is that a lot of people still haven’t taken to it so I can’t connect there with everyone that I want to connect with. I keep Facebook for that reason although I’ve never liked Facebook and wouldn’t mind if everyone there shifted to Google Plus. I use Twitter a lot and there are things I like it for. And I’m a Pinterest fan which I think is going to get bigger as image-based social networking becomes more and more popular. With all of these options, I wasn’t really looking for a new site to join, but the news article I read mentioned that knitters and crocheters were among those who signed up first for Hobzy so I thought I’d check out what it’s all about.

About Hobzy, New Kid on the Block

Hobzy describes itself as a site designed to help you showcase your hobby to the world. You can “add photos, videos or documents, network with those who have similar interests, exchange feedback, and get the exposure your pastime deserves”. You display your work in related collections, which people can then comment on and like and share. For example, you might have a collection just for all of your crochet work. If I decide to use this site, I’ll only be sharing crochet so I’ll probably make my collections more specific, creating one for crochet clothing, one for crochet accessories, etc.

More About Hobzy Collections

Each of your collection has a name, description and cover image that gets you started. You can link your Hobzy to other sites, like Facebook, which helps easily import photos you have stored elsewhere on the web. So, I went ahead and created “crochet accessories” and gave it a brief description then I chose my cover image to be a picture of my crochet scarves which I had already posted on Facebook. Next you choose a visual theme for your collection. There are only six choices right now but I imagine that will expand if the site grows. Then you can add additional photos, using either single or multiple upload options. It’s all easy and intuitive. I didn’t do much on mine yet and don’t know if I will but if you want to get a sense of what it looks like, click here.

Discover Crochet on Hobzy

I decided to see if it’s true that there are other crocheters on Hobzy. To find things that interest you, you just click on discover and type in your interest of choice. Sure enough, there are lots of crochet goodies to look at on the site. I didn’t love the way that this part is set up. You do get a great visual display of things to click on that are related to your hobby. Here’s a screenshot:

However, I found that when I clicked on some of these pictures, which are supposed to lead to crochet collections, I often got collections that weren’t really filled in, yet, so I didn’t get to see much without some active searching. This may change with time, either because the site gets more filled in by active users are because they change the way searching works. We’ll see.

So, what do you think about Hobzy? For now, I think it might be fun to peak at once in awhile but it’s not something I’ll be using a lot. You never know, though. I felt that way a couple of years ago about Pinterest and now I’m on it a lot.